The Truth
by Readwitch
Summary: Seriously, despite what Tori seemed to be telling everyone, she wasn't really going to do anything to her. She was smarter than that. So she liked seeing the girl squirm, whatever, big deal. Post-Driving Tori Crazy


The Truth

Okay, whatever. Listen, of course she wasn't going to actually do anything to Vega.

She's not a moron.

It's not like she hasn't thought about. For sure, Jade is _incredibly_ annoyed by Tori at any given moment. It's bad enough that Tori's unfortunate appearance into their lives meant Trina - who was a year older than them - was suddenly part of the group (when they couldn't get rid of her), but Jade could deal with Trina. A glare, a sneer, and a snarl was normally enough to keep girls like Trina at bay, and she always had sharp words as a back-up.

But Tori... well, let's just say that if Trina was poisoning ivy - an annoying rash that affected almost everybody but was fairly easy to spot and avoid - Tori was like some new, pretty flower that everyone loved, but Jade was hopelessly allergic to. And everyone just had to rant and rave and shove Tori in her face, no matter how many times Jade made it clear that she couldn't stand her.

Yeah, at first it was because of the whole rubbing her boyfriend thing - like how on earth was that supposed to leave a good impression - but that was just the start. Really, despite Tori's _constant_ attempts, they just had personalities that did not mesh well together.

Really!

It certainly didn't help that she was constantly forced to interact with the girl, or that Beck was always forcing her to hang out with the group. Jade was fine with the way things were and now this intrusion was messing up everything.

And, for whatever reason, Tori was constantly getting the parts Jade wanted. Sure, Hollywood Arts was all about creating triple threats (or more), but Tori's focus has always seemed to be in the musical aspects, wanting to become the pop icon. Jade wanted to work in theatre and film.

It was an abomination. It was the worst. It was as if not only all her fr- associates and her boyfriend had found a shiny to toy to be fascinated with, but that the school, the only place that her interests in performing (and her other more exotic interests) were tolerated, accepted, and even praised.

But mostly it was tiring.

Hating with Tori was exhausting.

No matter what Jade did, Tori was always just there, being all friendly and nice. And it wasn't like with Cat. Cat either didn't notice when Jade was being... prickly or bounced write back. Tori could actually understand her clever (and sometimes not-so-clever) insults. And Cat at least knew when to leave her alone...Tori just kept pushing.

And so she was always, _always_ just there, pushing and prying. Being nice...and helpful...and always touching her and asking for hugs.

Jade wasn't the type of person to surround herself with friends. She didn't like people and people didn't like her. She liked it that way. And even though she hung out with her own little group of people, even though she did kinda, sorta consider them something akin to friends...Beck was the only one she really let herself get close.

Except...except it was Tori who was there for her when Beck wouldn't take her back the first time.

...who had been there when she was stressing about her dad, even when Beck had ducked out the door at the first sign of trouble.

It was infuriating.

And now that Beck was gone...permanently... well, like she said, she didn't like people. She didn't need them. Didn't need him.

But she had gotten used to kind of having someone in her corner, someone to be her exception to the hating people thing.

Yeah, she was Jade, mean girl and scissor enthusiast, but she wasn't a robot. When she hadn't wanted to be around people - he had left her to her own devices. Horror movies didn't scare him, but he also didn't see the appeal and always wanted to make-out during them, so she usually preferred to watch alone or with Cat, whose screams provided an excellent ambience. She liked quiet time to work on her scripts. Sometimes, she just wanted to be alone in her room.

He got that.

But sometimes she did want him around. Jade, though she was loath to admit it, like snuggling up against him. She wasn't really a fan of contact, but it had always been different - well, not always. When they first started dating, all the contact made her skin crawl and she was always fighting the urge to shrug him off. But she got used to it. Now it felt... good. She felt protected and safe...or whatever.

She missed someone to laugh at her jokes and tease.

She missed someone to agree, or even just discuss, her opinions and thoughts on TV and movies.

She missed someone to just hang out with and relax around. That was what Beck was so amazing at, just being there. Not judging her. Just being.

Instead she tried hanging out with Cat and ended up making her cry and almost getting her fired. She hung out with Cat and Tori and apparently burned a lady's house down (which was actually a little cool as long as they didn't get arrested).

Not to mention the night at Nozu...which pretty much sealed it for Jade.

She can't _stand _ Tori Vega... but it doesn't seem to matter because the girl is not going anywhere. The break with Beck, which should have resulted in less time with the girl since Beck was always the main reason they ended up hanging out together, had just resulted in more exposure somehow.

And if Tori had somehow gotten Jade to admit that Tori wasn't awfu- whatever, if she got Jade to basically admit that she thought the other girl was a good singer and was... _pretty,_ then obviously she was already under Jade's skin.

And, yeah, maybe it did seem at times that the only way to get rid of her was, well, _to get rid of her_.

But she certainly wasn't going to kill her. First and foremost, despite what people thought, she wasn't a sociopath.

So she made a few kids cry and maybe she ran over Sinjin, but despite what he thought, it wasn't really on purpose. The sun got in her eye.

Really.

She hated driving in daytime, there were always people milling about, jumping in front of her car.

Jade also wasn't stupid. If she was a killer - which she wasn't - she'd certainly be smarter about than to broadcast her intentions so obviously. She was an actress (and singer, dancer, and screenwriter), she could certainly act normal enough to fool Tori into dropping her guard. And she definitely wouldn't have left the doors unlocked so Tori could escape so easily.

Most of all, though, she wouldn't have done it when everyone, _everyone,_ knew where Tori was. The girl was posted everything on The Slap and had already told everyone who was giving her a ride. And there somewhat adversarial relationship would definitely point the police in her direction.

And driving "alone" in her car wasn't the best alibi, especially since Jade didn't actually know how to get rid of evidence very well.

The truth was, she just liked poking the bear. Tori was always pushing her buttons, well she could push back - and without being "such a gank."

It was...fun, really, watching Tori squirm like that. The singing was a bit much, but she couldn't help herself with how much Tori was not so quietly freaking out next to her.

The best part of it all was that was mostly her normal route to school.

She didn't like driving in the day time, but she didn't have Beck to drive her anymore.

Side note, she had heard about Tori's adventure when Beck gave her a ride, and she wasn't surprised. That was actually one of those things she'd had to deal with when dating him. If she wasn't aggressive and possessive, she ended up sharing her boyfriend with a bunch of bimbos who had no boundaries. 'Cause Beck was just _such a nice guy._

Back to the point, as Tori had proven, there wasn't really anyone else to catch a ride with. And Jade certainly wasn't taking the bus. So she'd been driving herself since she broke up with Beck. She'd even given Cat a lift a couple of times, mostly for almost getting her fired but also because she occasionally liked having someone in the car with her.

She drove the route she did because, unlike just about every other roadway, there was very little traffic her way. Even though it was technically a longer trip, it was faster than the normal way. It was much more barren, like nighttime, so she didn't have to make sure she wasn't running over people every two seconds. And, like the night, the area had this sort of creepy atmosphere to it, which Jade always appreciated.

Plus, there was a nice little breakfast place near the end that had awesome smoothies Jade liked. Barrel Roll, the one-eyed ex-hippy that worked that store every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday even gave her free boosts.

Hell, if Tori had sucked it up and made it to the end, Jade might have even bought her a smoothie...maybe.

Oh well, next time.


End file.
